Kitere!

Purpose of the trip - visit Denise's family 'up country', gather some of her belongings to bring to Nairobi and have her vehicle driven to Nairobi...quite a full schedule for 8 days (including 2 days of travel!)  "Denise's family" includes her father-in-law Joseph, his wives and their kids, and the grand kids.

After a 7 hour bus ride, lunch in Rongo (a small town near our destination), shopping and then a cab ride Mom is understandably tired!

Once we greeted a few people and put our belongings away it was time to get a bed for Denise!  First the mattress...this came from the church (more pics of the church later)

 ...then came the frame - that's the pastor helping her...

She SAYS she doesn't like cats!

 ...she cannot figure out why they all love her!!!!  I think Puss (and our Ruby at home) are changing her mind about cats...

 Yumi is from Japan, living in the village and helping in the school.  She also has an agricultural project nearby...

 ...both talking with their hands, Mom is trying to figure out if she has been to Yumi's village in Japan - turns out she had not been to that area...

 In the kitchen (more pics of the kitchen later) Susan is mixing the flour for chapatis - which are a bit like tortillas and a real treat!  They are being made in honor of our arrival...

Cooking sukuma wiki (like cale) - AND a chicken was slaughtered in our honor...

 

 Mom and Denise checking on the rising dough for Mandazi - a donut-like pastry we had with tea in the morning...

 Heading back to the house...

 Puppy greeting us...he was missing his mama!

Puss praying??

He definitely is a lap cat!

Jared came to visit - he is a brother-in-law to Denise

TOM!!  Nephew to Denise, he is a very special young man...

She can't talk without her hands!

Yum!  serving dinner (it was after 9pm but worth the wait!)

Do you think Tom was eager for the chapati?

Plowing with oxen - I took this photo from the back porch...

Pastor planting flowers in the front yard...

Here's a pic of the church, taken from the house

Vincent (another brother-in-law) feeding the chickens

 Denise took Mom on a tour of the church - the back half is used for dorm rooms, office, library and all-purpose room...

The all-purpose room used during disciple camps and for special events.

Dog and Puppy escorted us on the tour :)

Boy's dorm - now used by the pastor and his son and two others

Girl's dorm used by Jane and Ida (sisters in law) and Yumi

The office

Looking at a map of East Africa

The kitchen and a small store which sells essentials

Mom showing pictures to Jared and Jane

The puppies!  Check back for a whole entry on the puppies - watch them grow!

On our second day (Friday) we went visiting family members...first stop - Vincent and Lizzie

Susan with her new pet?

Vincent is a brother in law to Denise and Lizzie is his wife

Surveying his land

Denise showing Mom how mud huts are built...Tom looking on

In most of the Kenyan communities a term of respect for a woman is 'Mama' and the name of her first born...in Luo the term is Min instead of Mama...so this is Min Baby and her first born - don't know his name!

Elizabeth is one of Joseph's wives...she has moved her house since I was there in 2007!

Where Elizabeth's house used to be (we visited her next)

See the kids to the right and the dog in the middle?

Sweet photo on the way to Elizabeth's

The last time I was here Vincent was just starting to build his house...

Where Vincent's house used to be

In the Luo culture each son builds a home on the family compound...then builds a new home using much of the material (especially the roof) of the first house.

To the far right is William's first house (Denise's husband)

Walking down to Elizabeth's home...

Susan loves kids :)

The cow and the countryside

The kids love to look at their pictures!  Mom is a hit!

Susan commenting on the length of this baby's hair!

The girl in pink spread her jacket on the floor for the others to sit on - sweet!

The kids love to congregate at Elizabeth's home...and she loves them!

Elizabeth with her grandkids

Jared, son of Elizabeth, chatting with Denise - Elizabeth in the background

Kids!

William's home - where I stayed when here in 2007 - at that time we were surrounded by maize and banana trees...it looks rather lonely now that it is the planting season.

Small but cozy :)

Pied Piper?

Looking for a place to lay her eggs...

Drying maize

Trying to do something with that hair!

On our way back I caught Vincent preparing to plant banana trees

Tom on the motorbike...

Bringing it out for his mom to ride back to their house

Jane preparing chapatis

Susan checking the dough to make sure it is okay

I think she approved :)

Test riding!

She got off before Tom took off!

Two sons' houses moved from below

Walking to the school...

CML Academy that William and Denise founded last year

No kids since the public school teachers are on strike :(

Classroom

Blackboard

Teacher's lounge

Schedule

Who teaches what...Vision & Mission statement

Old choo (outhouse)

New choo (pronounced with a long 'o')

Denise demonstrating...

Trees they planted

This area is rich with gold...so there is a form of 'gold fever' happening these days.  Many are abandoning farms and paying jobs to try their luck at digging for gold.  They dig up rocks and bring them to the rock grinder, which reduces the rocks to dust...then the process includes using mercury to separate the gold...which is very dangerous to the local community.

Visiting the rock grinder, where we were asked to not take pictures

The school building is just across the field from the rock grinder which makes noise all day.  There is also one on the other side of the school, making it sometimes difficult for the children to do their studies.

On the way we passed this lady...I couldn't resist the shot

Denise, Mom and Tom walking to take a look at the rock grinder...

Margaret (co-wife to Elizabeth) with rocks on her head on her way to the grinder

Meanwhile Ida and Jane are cooking chapatis in the kitchen :)

Tom eating grapes for the first time!

Playing the first of 4 games of Hand and Foot

We played partners and Tom and Mom were the champs!

Even though we didn't win we are still champs :)

What does it mean that the pic is blurry...hmmm...

On Friday Denise and I began working in the library (separate blog entry on that process!) and Mama Esther came to visit...

When I met her in 2007 her handshakes left my hand tingling...she is still strong!

Making breakfast on the back porch...

Innovative way to make toast :)

Yuuum!

On Saturday we made a trip to a nearby town to visit sister-in-law, Susan (Min Tom) - another blog entry :)...travel included a bus, a piki piki (motorbike) and then walking...

Travel attire for a rainy day

Charity is Denise's cow...

Two finds from our first day in the library - a necklace for Mom and a necklace for Tom :)

Cute couple!

Nixon is William's cousin.  He drove us to a game park in 2007 and came on this day to bring Robert who drove us to Kisumu (another blog entry!) - this was a reunion of sorts :)

Robert, Denise, Nixon, me and Joseph (William's dad)

While in Kisumu Mom found this traditional Luo instrument called a Nyatiti.  Tabitha (William's sister who we visited while in Kisumu) told me the story of a Mzee (old man) she remembers playing this instrument...he would gleefully play and sing to the delight of all who were near.  This story reminded me of my grandfather (my mother's father) who would play a traditional Greek instrument called a Bazuki (I have probably butchered the spelling!) to the delight of his friends and family.

Joseph 'playing' the Nyatiti and singing a Luo song :)

We brought mechanic Jeff (who resides in Nairobi) from Kisumu and here he is informing Denise of his initial findings...notice she is NOT smiling!

Even though the strike is still on, this private school has chosen to re-open.  These are the youngest kids - whose classroom is the church sanctuary...

They love posing for the camera

Madame Grace (their teacher) did not come so the kids began leading each other...

"Capital A little a, capital B little b, capital C..." all the way through to Zed

And Jeff continues the inspection...

And the kids continue their studies...yes, I am a distraction!

Denise decides to test their knowledge by going out of order

Jared is very mechanical and fascinated by machinery.  He became Jeff's assistant who later commented that he would hire him if he could...

I think she's getting a headache!  Jared and Ida are brother and sister.

The puppies are now venturing out and even becoming mischievous!

Good news; the vehicle can make it back to Nairobi as-is. Bad news; we lost a whole day of sorting and packing the stuff in the library - yikes!

Good news?

The chickens know Vincent and know that he feeds them!

See the chickens perched on the door?

Most of the stuff we packed up to bring back with the vehicle...plus a coffee table and small desk.

Trying the start the vehicle, with Joseph nearby and Moses (son to the pastor) looking on

Meanwhile Jane is busy chopping firewood

Puppies corraled under the basket!  Brilliant idea Denise!

Hmmm...how to get all the stuff into the back of the truck...

...which wouldn't start...pushing back...

...pushing forward

...pushing out!

We later learned that it became stuck in the mud on the road and needed even more help getting it out!

Now starts the packing...

Everybody wants to help...

Jared adding the small desk to the coffee table (behind the tire) on top of the vehicle...

All packed...

Jared rode with Jeff as far as Narok (about 3 hours away)...which was good since they broke down at least once and were stopped by the police 3 times in that time!

Jeff smiles pretty much all the time...

This lady is a Muslim who lives nearby and has at least one grandchild in the school...

Joseph and the neighbor visiting

Jared securing the furniture on top

And they're off!

The puppies were crying frantically when I remembered they were still under the basket!  I ran to let them out and their mama Coco came to feed them...I think we drew a crowd!

On Wednesday we visited the school as the kids were in session...

Class One

Class Two

Class Three

The youngest kids, still without a teacher (Ida filled in for the day) colored papers - and wow they did a great job.  Here Denise is looking at each one and reading the names...the kids loved the acknowledgement...

I was there too :)

The kids showing their papers for the camera...

Kids resting before the long walk home...

Charity grazing in front of the house :)

Susan was asked to help hand out the items Denise set aside to be given to the church members...

Denise pointing out where everything is...

But - Susan had to take a 'sweet' break first :)

She decided she needed to look at everything so she would be able to explain what's there as she is dividing the items...

Going thru the shoes...

There were some things Susan decided she should keep herself :)

Christmas decorations :)

Denise trying to explain how to straighten the branches :)

Tom helping his mom sort thru the stuff - he is such a good boy!

Two reversible skirts

After declaring that "no, it is not going to rain" Susan walked out of the house to see threatening rain clouds and began to get a bit anxious!

Susan heading home...at first the bike would not start!

"Tom, why won't the bike start?" she says with anxiety (panic?) in her voice!

Whew...it started!

And she's off!!!

Tom had school friends at his house the previous night...

Guess he didn't sleep last night!

Hungry chickens!

Handsome rooster!  And loud...he woke us each morning at 3am

At the Rongo bus station VERY early on our last morning...

We had a great time...

For me, it was great to reconnect with people I had not seen for 5 years!  The kids had grown, new ones added, and adults were SO welcoming and loving.
For Denise it was great to see her family again, visit with the 'mamas', see the kids, check on the school and just enjoy her up country home.
For Mom it was a great adventure.  As she says "this is a part of Kenya I have not seen.  It is good to see how the Luo people live..." She just loves finding out about other cultures, which is probably why she has traveled the world over!